News

Oxford Biotrans announced today that it has closed £2.5m in Series A funding. The investment was led by Imperial Innovations with participation from existing shareholders IP Group plc and the University of Oxford and new investors Oxford Innovations and Technology EIS Fund and De Monchy Aromatics.

The company was incorporated to commercialise new routes to high-value speciality chemicals based on its patented enzyme technology. The first product is natural grade nootkatone, the flavour and scent of grapefruit, which has already created strong market interest and will be available in commercial quantities in the coming months. For the next phase of its development, Oxford Biotrans has already identified several further high-value flavour product targets for its technology and plans to realise further scalable, ‘green’, and economically attractive enzymatic processes for production of these new targets. Work will also commence to explore targets in other market segments.

Jason King, CEO of Oxford Biotrans said: “With this new investment we shall establish purpose built facilities and build a high quality team, the first key members of which are already lined up to come on board. With these resources we shall deliver more novel processes more quickly and pursue a more aggressive and comprehensive monetisation of our technology’s full potential.”

Robert Bahns, Director Technology Ventures at Imperial Innovations, added: “Oxford Biotrans has the potential to become a significant player in the high growth, Industrial Biotechnology industry, so we are delighted to lead this round which will help the Company to deliver commercial quantities of its first product as well as build a pipeline of new ones.”

Will Barton, Chairman of Oxford Biotrans said: “The closing of this oversubscribed investment round represents a significant endorsement of our vision for the Company by our original investors and by our two new investors and we thank them for their strong support. With the exciting talent that this investment is already enabling us to attract, we shall be well set to deliver on our shareholders’ expectations.”